McCrory walkin' in the rain

NC Gov. Pat McCrory compares biceps with former Mr. American and current New Bern Alderman Johnnie Ray Kinsey at Capt. Ratty’s restaurant Friday afternoon. McCrory was in New Bern as part of his Main Street Tour of the state.

Byron Holland/Sun Journal

By Sue Book, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Friday, July 12, 2013 at 07:27 PM.

“When I need a shot of adrenalin, I come to New Bern,” said N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Friday, who flew into town for a campaign promised “Main Street Tour.”

Before he sat down for lunch at Capt. Ratty's with a group of bipartisan local elected leaders and some invited guests, the first-term governor got a tepid taste of some Middle Street comments that gave thumbs down to current Republican leadership.

In his Middle to Craven streets walk, McCrory walked among mostly smiling admirers and made stops at several shops including The Pepsi Store and Mitchell's Hardware.

More than a dozen demonstrators held their ground in the rain as well as signs objecting to what some called anti-abortion legislation quickly-compiled and squeezed into a laundry-list House bill on unrelated matters that passed Thursday.

McCrory said responding to questions following the event that he does not plan to veto the house bill.

McCrory said, “I would not have signed the Senate bill (SB 353),” which he had publicly criticized for the procedure involved in its passage. But he said his staff helped work on the language for the House bill and it provides needed changes in medical protections during abortion that have not been modified since 1983.

McCrory stuck out his hand to a New Bern demonstrator who was holding a sign and refused to shake the governor's hand.

“When I need a shot of adrenalin, I come to New Bern,” said N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory Friday, who flew into town for a campaign promised “Main Street Tour.”

Before he sat down for lunch at Capt. Ratty's with a group of bipartisan local elected leaders and some invited guests, the first-term governor got a tepid taste of some Middle Street comments that gave thumbs down to current Republican leadership.

In his Middle to Craven streets walk, McCrory walked among mostly smiling admirers and made stops at several shops including The Pepsi Store and Mitchell's Hardware.

More than a dozen demonstrators held their ground in the rain as well as signs objecting to what some called anti-abortion legislation quickly-compiled and squeezed into a laundry-list House bill on unrelated matters that passed Thursday.

McCrory said responding to questions following the event that he does not plan to veto the house bill.

McCrory said, “I would not have signed the Senate bill (SB 353),” which he had publicly criticized for the procedure involved in its passage. But he said his staff helped work on the language for the House bill and it provides needed changes in medical protections during abortion that have not been modified since 1983.

McCrory stuck out his hand to a New Bern demonstrator who was holding a sign and refused to shake the governor's hand.

Asked what he opposes, protester Roy Smith Jr. said, “I object to everything the Republicans are doing. Their late night passing laws before good debate is not the way democracy is supposed to work.”

McCrory said he walks to work from the Governor's Mansion to his office in Raleigh and with the Moral Monday protests he has gotten used to talking to people who don't always share his opinions.

Different ideas promote dialog leading to solutions to the state's problems, he said.

The protesters and a recent New York Times editorial single out General Assembly actions including ending federal extended unemployment to affect more than 170,000 unemployed North Carolineans in the next few months, shortchanging education spending enough to make the per-capital rate 46th in the country, repealing the Racial Justice Act, and voting requirement changes expected to dilute the voting power of the young and the elderly.

McCrory said the state declined the extension of federal unemployment because it has no plan to repay the nearly $2.5 billion it already owes for what it has already gotten.

“I have had to step on the toes of the status quo and it has hurt Republicans, Democrats and Independents,” he said. “We have to cut up the credit card. We have the fifth-highest unemployment in the nation” and fixing that requires a focus on the economy, government efficiency and education.

“It didn't make the front page,” he said, but the first piece of legislation he helped get through the General Assembly with bipartisan support was one putting a vocational high school diploma into the state's education system.

“Not every child needs a college degree,” McCrory said.

He said major changes to organization of the Department of Transportation will help bring the logical, rather than political, roadways for businesses which can create jobs. And through Commerce Department changes, businesses looking to locate in the state can find the right people to direct them through a streamlined permitting process.

“We are going to have a performance management system,” McCrory said. There are plans to work on improving restrictions to logically providing government services, like eliminating requirements that a person with 10 years tenure can't be asked to work more than 30 miles from their home.

Questions from those attending focused on Medicaid, flood insurance, concerns about the state pension plan, and supporting Cherry Point air station.